Within the library of apocalyptic literature, Daniel’s visions certainly occupy a shelf of their own. And yet his visions could conceivably be further subdivided into three different genres: the Dynastic, the Mosaic, and the Cardinal. Such a distinction between the three types of Daniel’s visions makes chapter 11 stand out in stark relief compared to the others, both in style and in content. When the unique aspects of the chapter are so recognized, chapter 11 is shown to be a continuous, uninterrupted narrative that was entirely fulfilled during the period of Greek rule that is signified by the Bronze, Leopard and He-goat periods of Daniel’s other visions. Continue reading The Shifting Frame→
The Taurus Mountains, here viewed from Cyprus, form an intimidating barrier to all who wish to possess what lies beyond them.
The Taurus Mountains of Asia Minor were formed long ago by the collision of the European, African and Arabian tectonic plates. They climb out of the the quiet shores of Lake Eğirdir in the west like a youth emerging from a refreshing swim, and then stand up and run on a southeasterly course toward the Bay of Pamphylia on the southern coast. Here they have left only a narrow sliver of arable land as a gift to the brigands and pirates who would one day terrorize the shipping lanes of the Mediterranean from the isolated cove. From Pamphylia, the mountains have come to full stature and tightly hug the shoreline, their feet playing in the waves of the Mediterranean. They form an imposing and deadly barrier to any who might dare to approach them. As an indication of the relative speed of the colliding plates, the Taurus as viewed from Cyprus (shown above) appear almost as a towering cliff or as a cresting wave of rocks about to crash down upon the watery plain of the Mediterranean. Now nearing Cilicia the rocky crags have briefly turned due east and then, as if losing interest in the sea, proceed northeasterly, leaving the plains of Cilicia as another gift to the pirates, situated as they were between the Taurus mountains of Asia Minor and the Amanus mountains of Syria. Here at Cilicia the Taurus mountains become the Anti-Taurus, and continue on their course until they reach the southeastern shores of the Black Sea to be united with their sister range, the Pontic Mountains that have served in a similar capacity along the northern coast. Continue reading The Bounds of their Habitation→
“Neither shall he regard the god of his fathers … ” (Daniel 11:37)
As we have highlighted in the preceding weeks, when examined in their context, the events of Daniel 8 and 9 culminate in the rise and fall of Antiochus IV, king of Syria, from 175 – 163 B.C.. The context of Daniel 9 is fundamentally Mosaic rather than Messianic, and its basis is the Leviticus 26 Protocol. The fulfillment of Daniel 9 is found in the restoration of the Temple under the First Covenant, using Ezekiel’s instructions, as we described in All the Evenings and Mornings. Notably, the background of the successive chastisements prescribed in Leviticus 26 is Jewish idolatry, sabbath violations, and profanation of the sanctuary (Leviticus 26:1-2). The objective of the successive chastisements under Leviticus 26 is that the Jews “confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers,” and that “their uncircumcised hearts be humbled, and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity” (Leviticus 26:40-41). As Ezekiel prescribed to the Jews in captivity, “if they be ashamed of all that they have done” they will restore the Temple in accordance with “the pattern” he was given for them (Ezekiel 43:11), and as Gabriel prophesied, the final outcome of the Seventy Weeks was that the Temple would be anointed in accordance with the instructions in Exodus 40 (Daniel 9:24). In 164 B.C., in what would become the first celebration of Hannukha, the Jews finally rededicated the Temple as prescribed and prophesied. It was the conclusion of the Seventieth Week of Daniel 9, the objective of which was for the Jews to repent of their idolatry, sabbath violations and sanctuary profanations, by restoring the Mosaic order according to Ezekiel’s pattern. These events were prophesied to occur under the period of Greek rule, in the aftermath of the four-way division of Alexander’s empire, as described in Daniel 8. Having laid this groundwork, including the Reduction of the Diadochi last week, we now proceed with an analysis of Daniel chapter 8. Continue reading The Rise of Antiochus IV→
“…and when he was strong, the great horn was broken; and for it came up four notable ones toward the four winds of heaven.” (Daniel 8:8)
One of the most critical phases in Western Civilization is the period of post-Alexandrian Greece prior to the rise of Rome. It is the period following Alexander’s death in 323 B.C. when his kingdom was divided, leading up to the period of Rome’s dominance on the world stage. That period weighs heavily in any discussion of Danielic eschatology, especially Daniel chapters 8 and 11, because in those chapters, he prophesies about exactly that period in history—the division of Alexander’s kingdom and the wars that followed. The fulfillment of Daniel’s prophecies of the period are foundational to Christian eschatology, and much of what John saw in Revelation draws on the imagery and symbolism of Daniel’s several visions of the post-Alexandrian Greek empire. For this reason, a comprehensive Christian eschatology cannot be developed without knowledge of the era. And yet, from an historiographical perspective, it is one of the darkest periods in human history, for very little written evidence exists from which a complete story can emerge. Thus, at the period in history when our need for data is most critical, the historical record is least generous. Continue reading Reduction of the Diadochi→
“And the evening and the morning were the first day.” (Genesis 1:5)
When we left off in our last post, we concluded that while the Little Horn of Daniel 8 and the Little Horn of Daniel 7 share much in common, the Scriptures nonetheless differentiate between the two. Although they are both similarly hostile to God’s holy people (Daniel 8:24, 7:25), they are nevertheless distinguished one from the other, separated in time by the succession of empires. The Little Horn of Daniel 8 is Greek in identity and the Little Horn of Daniel 7 is Roman. Among the significant differences between the two, one of the most prominent is the period of persecution by the Little Horn of Daniel 8. The duration of his persecution is described in terms of literal days: “Unto two thousand and three hundred evenings and mornings” (Daniel 8:14). As with the days of creation (Genesis 1), “the evening and the morning” is one literal day, and 2,300 such evenings and mornings is 2,300 literal days. Those 2,300 literal days all occur within the One Week of Daniel 9:27; the 1,290 days of Daniel 12:11 all occur within those 2,300 literal days; and the 1,290 literal days, plus an additional 45 literal days, comprise the 1,335 literal days of Daniel 12:12. Our objective this week is to identify those three periods of literal days— all the evenings and mornings. Continue reading All the Evenings and Mornings…→
Intercalation is only necessary when literal days are in view.
Of the many things Daniel shows us in his visions, one of the most prominent is that of imperial succession. Son follows father in the succession of kings, and empire follows empire in the succession of kingdoms. Daniel 2 speaks explicitly of four empires—Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome—and Daniel 7 speaks explicitly of the same four. When those two visions are harmonized, what emerges is a Fifth Empire, the Empire of Roman Catholicism that arose after the thirteen-way fragmentation of Rome. We explored the emergence of Roman Catholicism as the successor to those Four Empires in our series, The Fifth Empire, and in our article The Fourteenth Diocese. Like a river flowing relentlessly and continuously onward, the prophetic timeline depicted in Daniel 2 and Daniel 7 flowed from Babylon to the rise of Antichrist without gaps or discontinuities—Babylon, then Medo-Persia, then Greece, then Rome. Then Papal Roman Catholicism, the arrogant Little Horn of Daniel 7, the persecutor of God’s holy people.
Jesus did not say the Seventieth Week of Daniel was yet future. He said the Statue of Jupiter would return as a herald of the demise of Judæa.
In the last two weeks, we have laid the foundation for an analysis of the Seventieth Week of Daniel. In The Leviticus 26 Protocol, we showed that the Seventy Weeks of Daniel 9 are inextricably related to the Seventy Year chastisement described in Jeremiah 25 and 29. The latter chastisement (Seventy Weeks of Years) is a seven-fold prolongation of the former chastisement (Seventy Years) and thus, the Weeks and Years must in some way share a common point of beginning. In our follow up article, Rightly Dividing the Weeks, we showed that Gabriel, in explaining the vision to Daniel, divided the Seventy Weeks into three subsets—the Sixty-two, the Seven and the One. The Seven Weeks (587 – 538 B.C.) ran concurrently with the Sixty-two (605 – 171 B.C.), which was only possible if Gabriel had first “divided” the Weeks, which is precisely what he did when he announced them to Daniel. That is why the “anointed” is described as being “cut off” after the Sixty-two Weeks (Daniel 9:26), rather than after the often alleged, but Scripturally untenable, “Sixty-nine.”
What follows upon the description of the Sixty-two Weeks is the most detailed description of any Week in the ninth chapter of Daniel. What we will demonstrate is that the Seventieth Week of Daniel was fulfilled between 171 and 164 B.C., in the period of Greek rule over Israel. As we shall also demonstrate, Jesus acknowledged the past fulfillment of Daniel’s Seventieth Week when He instructed His audience in Matthew 24:15 and Mark 13:14 to watch carefully for the soon return of the Abomination of Desolation to the Holy Land. Continue reading The Seventieth Week of Daniel 9→
There is a reason that Gabriel only describes the Seventy Weeks in terms of Sixty-two, Seven and One.
When we left off last week with The Leviticus 26 Protocol, we mentioned that Gabriel had multiplied the Seventy Year Babylonian Exile in accordance with Leviticus 26 to arrive at Seventy Weeks of Years in Daniel 9:24. As specified in the Law of Moses, Israel had been punished for disobedience, and when Israel still would not hearken unto the Lord, her punishment was multiplied seven-fold. But Gabriel had done more than that. He had multiplied the Seventy Years, but then he divided the Seventy Weeks. Although Gabriel announced the “Seventy Weeks” in Daniel 9:24, he never mentions them in those words again, and instead describes the prophecy in three subsets of Weeks. He speaks of the Seven Weeks (Daniel 9:25), the Sixty-two Weeks (Daniel 9:25,26) and the One Week (Daniel 9:27), but never again of the Seventy. That division is reflected clearly in the text, but many translations and interpretations have long since obscured the meaning by trying to put the Seventy Weeks back together again. Continue reading Rightly Dividing the Weeks→
“And I will make your cities [desolate], and [desolate] your sanctuaries unto desolation… And I will [desolate] the land into desolation: and your enemies which dwell therein shall [desolate] it” (Leviticus 26:31-32)When approaching the prophecy of the Seventy Weeks in Daniel 9, the ancient and frequent temptation has been immediately to rush forward to the last four verses of the chapter and read about “Messiah the Prince” Who will come (Daniel 9:25) and “confirm the covenant” (Daniel 9:27) to “make an end of sins,” “make reconciliation for iniquity,” and bring about “everlasting righteousness” (Daniel 9:24). In other words, the temptation is to read the chapter in a Messianic context. Once it is established that Daniel 9 is a Messianic prophecy, all that remains is somehow to make the numbers of the prophecy work out.
The reorganized Roman empire established Milan as the Metropolis of the Diocese of Italy, making Urbis Romæ a minor urban territory in an empire of thirteen dioceses.
The city of Rome was the capital seat of the empire at its founding, and retained that primacy for centuries. But for a brief period from 293 A.D. to the latter part of the fourth century, Rome was relegated to the status of a third tier Metropolis behind the tetrarch capitals and the metropolitan seats of Diocletian’s new dioceses. The division of the empire started in 293 A.D. with the formation of 12 dioceses under four tetrarchs, presiding from Nicomedia, Smirmium, Milan and Trier. Each tetrarch was assigned the rule over three dioceses, and each diocese was in turn ruled from its chief metropolis by a vicarius or equivalent. Notably, the city of Rome was reduced in stature, and was made neither a tetrarch capital, nor even the chief metropolis of the Diocese of Italy. Nevertheless, the city of Rome was also assigned its own vicarius, and he ruled over his limited jurisdiction in the heart of Italy. Over the course of the fourth century, the tetrarchy faded away, but the diocesan system endured. Further reorganizations occurred in which two dioceses were combined into one, and two others were divided into four. The eventual outcome by the end of the fourth century was a fully reorganized Roman empire of thirteen dioceses under thirteen vicars—and within one of those dioceses, a greatly diminished city of Rome, a comparatively small vicariate in an empire of dioceses. Although the Vicar of Rome had not received a diocese to manage, the city of Rome and its suburbs comprised what could almost be called a little diocese of their own. We might even call it “the fourteenth diocese.” That little “fourteenth diocese” had been diminished in Diocletian’s reorganization, but under the administration of a pope, it would one day rise up again to rule the empire. Only three metropolitan cities stood in his way, and he would dispatch them short order. Continue reading The Fourteenth Diocese→
The Scriptures Identify the Transition from the Legs to the Feet.
In the last three weeks we have spent a little time discussing various interpretations of Daniel 2 in which a Stone “cut without hands” (Daniel 2:34) strikes the statue of Nebuchadnezzar’s vision. The Statue depicts a succession of Four Empires—Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. It has legs of iron, signifying the strength of Rome (Daniel 2:40), but has feet of iron and clay, signifying that “the kingdom shall be divided” for the kings of the Fourth Empire “shall mingle themselves with the seed of men” (Daniel 2:41, 43). The Stone strikes the Statue “upon his feet that were of iron and clay” (Daniel 2:34). Continue reading The Fifth Empire (part 4)→
Roman Catholicism is not the Stone of Daniel chapter 2.
Last week, after describing the two judicial movements in each vision of Daniel 2 and Daniel 7, we touched briefly on the distinction between possessing a heavenly kingdom and having dominion over an earthly one. They are not the same thing, and Roman Catholicism has confused the former for the latter. As we mentioned previously, Taylor Marshall in his book, The Eternal City, thinks he has found in Roman Catholicism the bride of Christ because Roman Catholicism took dominion after the collapse of the Roman Empire: Continue reading The Fifth Empire (part 3)→
Roman Catholicism is not the Stone of Daniel chapter 2.
Last week, we started a discussion on the Four Empires depicted in the visions of Daniel chapters 2 and 7—Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome. As we demonstrated with citations from Early Church Fathers, a Roman Catholic apologist and a Protestant commentary, the judgment scene in Daniel 7 is typically collapsed into a single event in which the Fourth Beast (Rome) and the Little Horn (the Antichrist) are destroyed together. It is typical for the judgment scene in Daniel 2—the Stone striking the statue of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream—to be depicted in the same way: as a single act of judgment against the series of empires. But in both chapters, the text and the context convey an extended judgment, and Daniel 7 explicitly states that after the initial act of judgment against the body of the Fourth Beast, the lives of the preceding empires are granted a continuance of sorts.
Roman Catholicism is not the Stone of Daniel chapter 2.
The statue of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, as depicted in Daniel chapter 2, has been the object of considerable study and speculation since Daniel first understood and revealed the dream. The statue represents four kingdoms that will come upon the earth, beginning with, and including, Nebuchadnezzar’s (Daniel 2:37-40). The “head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay” (Daniel 2:22-32). These represented the current and coming world empires—Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. As Daniel explains, the fourth kingdom starts with the strength of iron, but its Feet and Toes are part iron and part clay, which is to signify that the once strong kingdom “shall be divided” but with “the strength of the iron” (Daniel 2:41). In this vision, a stone carved without hands “smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay” (Daniel 2:34) and “it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold” (Daniel 2:45). As Daniel explains, the meaning of the stone is that “in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed” (Daniel 2:44). Continue reading The Fifth Empire (part 1)→
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